Government

7:25 am

Thu March 13, 2014

State Senate Backs Use of Hemp Oil as Medical Treatment

The Kentucky Senate is backing the use of marijuana or hemp oil to treat severe cases of epilepsy in children.

The senate voted 38-0 yesterday in favor of a bill to give the Universities of Kentucky and Louisville the authority to study cannabis oil.

The bill is sponsored by Louisville Senator and Health and Welfare Committee Chair Julie Denton.

"Cannabidiol oil does not have any affects in terms of getting high as people would normally associate with marijuana and this oil is giving orally under the tongue and the anecdotal evidence has shown that children who receive this have a dramatic decrease in the amount of seizures that they have on a daily basis,” she said.

Denton says young patients with epilepsy can suffer a hundred seizures a day. Hopkinsville Senator Whitney Westerfield says this medication should not be confused with the illicit recreational drug.

"And so, I'm not at all crazy about the idea of legalizing any drug any illicit substance that way that I know can be and been and continues to be abused," he said, "But, this bill isn't that. This bill doesn't do that, it doesn't aim to do that. It doesn't aim to be a first step toward that,"

Louisville Senator Perry Clark says this cannabis oil is not psycho-active with very few mild side effects. The bill now goes on the House for its review.​